There was once a painter whose goal was to paint the most beautiful painting in the world. Day and night he painted to make his greatest work. He painted many paintings, but every time, he would throw away paintings that he thought were less than perfect.
At the same time, another painter who worked in the same studio also painted many paintings. He tried his best to paint and never threw any paintings away. The first painter would sometimes walk by, looking at the second painter's finished works, and laugh at them. "No one will ever buy these paintings. They are worthless!" he would say.
The second painter would always answer, "We'll see." And in time, the second painter sold nearly all of his works. People were happy with them, even if they were less than perfect.
The first painter never achieved what he wanted and finally gave up on his dream of perfection. He went home, penniless (身无分文的), having never sold any of his paintings.
There is a saying- "Practice makes perfect." It is used to say that people become better at something if they do it often. For example, if you want to be a good writer, you should write every day. But in fact, this saying is not always true. No one is perfect, and looking for perfection often ends in failure. But if we simply do our best and work hard, we can usually succeed in life.
a. laughed at the first painter
b. saved all of his paintings
c. made good use of his works
d. painted the greatest painting in the world
e sold nearly all of his works
